Category: #learning

Understanding dyslexia: the reading circuit

The idea of the “reading circuit” really helped me understand dyslexia a bit better. Fluency takes effort. I’ve always been a slow reader. I didn’t really ever enjoy it. Turns out it’s not the actual material, as in the last decade, I’ve listened to a grillion (not quite as much as a bijillion but more…
Radical Pedagogy

My wife is my signpost – for some things, anyway. She reads faster than me and tells me of books that I might like. I have but one requirement: at the end of the book, I want to be able to say “I’ve never read anything like that before”. As a result, I’ve been enjoying…
Subject – Verb – Object

As a kid in a classroom, I didn’t question it. I took what was laid before me, in the environment in which it was given. I was taught. I found it difficult to ask questions, as it revealed a lack of knowledge or understanding. The game was one of “how much do you know?“, maintaining…
Monologue and Dialogue

The lecture. At home, at school, and at church. I’ve had so many, but can recall very few… The group. At home, at school, and at church. Articulating something half-baked, in order to put it back in the oven and turn up the heat…
Bank of Education

In the olden days, knowledge existed hidden away in pockets, which was fine if you knew which pocket and had the means to access it. However, one must not treat an encyclopaedia like wikipedia, for they offer two subtly different entry-points to learning: interest-led vs prescribed.
An engineering state of mind

When I was at University, the word “engineer” had some odd connotations in my head. Geeky, sterile, boring. It seemed so theoretical, so mathematical. I thought that engineers became engineers by doing an engineering degree at University.
Changing your world view

This looks all wrong, doesn’t it? The thing is, it’s not at all easy to change your current world view. In fact, we actively look for things that will confirm our existing world view. This, I now know, is called confirmation bias, which always reminds me of the Simon & Garfunkel line “a man hears…
Learning to Credential

Due to the nature of the system, we start with the Credential and work backwards. Ah. This is further illustrated by this graphic, highlighting the massive difference between prescriptive and descriptive pathways.
Digital Skills Sandwich

Sandwich anyone? I do love a good sandwich. If potatoes are the king of carbs, then surely bread is its queen? As an Irishman, I am of course very biased. Anyway, I digress… The Digital Skills Sandwich is an idea that’s been rumbling around in my head for a while now. It’s seed germinates from the fact…
Swiss Cheese Knowledge Gaps

This nugget of cheesy thinkery came from hearing Sal Khan speak at the BETT show. He talked about kids having “Swiss Cheese gaps” in their knowledge, and needing a growth mindset to close them. To understand education culture, talk to the kids who are subject to it and see what they see. My experience of…
Personal Learning Network (PLN)

Twitter. Its like this thing, yeah, that you tweet stuff, yeah, but like you’re only allowed like 140 characters yeah – so like its really interesting and stuff… This is how someone introduced me to twitter. Now that I’ve been experimenting inside it for a while, I can point to a number of things (knowledge, ideas,…
Creativity in Schools

I watched this video clip of Dylan Wiliam talking about how important creativity in schools is. I worry – and I know a lot of others do to – about the lack of importance placed on this in schools, and in particular, secondary schools. In the UK, we’re going backwards. A lot of the responsibility…